Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2

Because I sometimes find my writing confusing when I’m dancing around, trying not to spoil things, I decided to do a second page for this review.

SPOILERIFIC CONTENT FOLLOWS!!

Star-Lord / Peter Quill – I really felt like his storyline was the strongest in a film filled with interesting, emotional things happening to most of the characters. I love the answer we got regarding who his father was, and that he got a double-set of closure on that front. He found out WHY Kurt Russell’s “EGO” character didn’t stay with his mom on Earth, why they didn’t travel with him (you know, all the OTHER kids who were tested & discarded like faulty batteries), and why he didn’t return to Earth for him. Russell’s EGO might have done some horrible things (the aforementioned kid catacombs, and the brain tumor thing), but he was, to a degree, a character for whom you could feel sorry. His existence was something of a lonely one, and if we are to believe that he loved Peter’s mom (which the dialogue never gave us reason not to believe), the fact that he couldn’t physically stay with her on Earth was a bit tragic. I like the fact that there was more than a touch of gray in terms of him being a terrible guy. I think when he explained to Peter the meaning he finds in the song BRANDY By LOOKING GLASS, about how he and Peter are The Sailor from the song, it really struck a chord with me in terms of understanding Ego’s emotional frame of mind.

The GAMORA and NEBULA storyline took a step forward in its development, giving us a better perspective on just WHY Nebula harbors such hostility to her sister, resenting how Gamora’s victories as children lead to Thanos’ abuse and upgrade-fueled dismemberment. I really liked how they ended up on the same page at the end of the movie, and I think Nebula’s going to play a pivotal role going forward, not just with any potential Guardians sequels, but with the Thanos-related aspects of Infinity War.

MANTIS joining the group is going to be fantastic. Her abilities as an Empath are going to add a nice element to the team, and should also provide some comic relief going forward. Pairing her up with DRAX in scenes produces gold, as should additional interactions involving her with either Rocket and/or Groot.

While GROOT provided mainly comic relief (particularly in that opening scene), there were a couple moments where we got some emotion from him, and that’s a credit to the film makers. When the Ravagers were pouring beverages on him and leaving him to walk away dejected, it really left an impression on me. This otherwise happy-go-lucky creature getting treated poorly made it easy to not care when they got the Whistle Arrow treatment by Yondu. And when ROCKET and Yondu were partnered up, and we got to find out more about Yondu’s background, and how similar he and Rocket were, it definitely hit The Feels. And seeing them kickass was fun, because they wrecked shop.

YONDU. Pooooooor Yondu. Seeing just how much he cared for Peter, like a son, and then seeing him make a sacrifice, it was a great ending for that character. The first movie made him seem like a selfish asshole, but he didn’t just get redemption in this film, he really got an explanation for his motivations. It made a rewatch of the original a bit more interesting.

A few quick notes about going forward:

The Sovereign were an interesting antagonist, given their in-person nature AND the “video game style drones”. I look forward to seeing more with them, and not JUST because I find the leader somewhat attractive despite being covered in gold.

I’m psyched about the post-credit scene with The Sovereign leader having started on the creation of Adam, who is almost certainly Adam Warlock, who plays a huge role in the Infinity War and with the Guardians Of The Galaxy going forward. Let the speculation begin as to who will be cast.

I love the replacement of the Sony Walkman with the Microsoft Zune. It was funny that Peter was using out-dated technology with the tapes, and it’ll be great that he’s using the dated technology that lost out, big time, to the iPod (despite some people saying it was better). It really, really fits into where we are in the story right now, because Peter gets to put his parents behind him at this point and move forward with his life. As such, he will be making his own playlists, which should be a very interesting aspect of future movies involving Star-Lord.

GROOT as a budding teenager?! I LIKE IT! I almost hope they don’t have him grow into an adult before the events of the next film. I really, really hope we get to see the Groot version of what Deadpool had in Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Tons of potential there!